Internal-combustion engine



sept. 1, 1925. 1,551,106

L.Y,SPEAR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Feb. 8, 1924 er ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 1, 1925.

STATES PATENroFFicE LAWRENCE Y. srEAE, ,oF-NEW LONDON, coNNEc'rIcrrr, AssIGNoE To ELECTRIC BOAT COMPANY, E NEWYOEK, N. Y., A coRPonATIoN 0E NEW JERSEY.

.INTEENAL-coMEUs'r'roN ENGINE;

Application fileidfFebruary, 1924. Serial No. 691,420.

To all whom t may concern:

' Be; it known that I, LAWRENCE Y. SPEAR,

a citizen of the United States, residing'at New London, in the county of New London,

State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal- Combustion Engines; and I do hereby de- Clare the following to bea` full,`clear, and

exact description of the invention,"suoh as will enable others skilled in the art to'which it appertains, to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a uel vinjection device for use in double acting internalcom-A bustion enginesof the Diesel type, and thev principles ofthe invention ymay be utilized in such engines which'work either on the two or four stroke cyjcle. More/specifically`,the invention provides a fuel injection device particularly adapted for injectingfuel into that part of the cylinder Vof a double-acting engine defined by thepistonand by the head through which the piston rod'passes.

In enginesr of fthe type fabove generallyre- :terred 4to thepiston rod to which the piston is connected passes throughone head of the the 'cylinder or may `be'cas't-integral therewith, but in'either acase thehead hasv a pas-V sage of considerable length formed in it through 'which the piston rod moves.l The piston rod is packed by means of packing which lies in thisv passage, and for this purpose there is ordinarily employed a cylindrical sleeve or box whichvfitsthe piston rod closely at one endl of the passage, and has a portion of 4greater diameter in which vthe packing lies. The` packing which is of any well-known type isy held in place in the box by means 'of a glandand sometimes a second gland `is employed tohold inV place vfurther packing Awhich lies against the inner face of the first gland. In such an engine toil injected into the cylinder both aboveand be` low'the piston so as to produce impulses in 4 either direction. The .oil vis injected by means' ofk mechanical timing apparatus and' in the upper cylinder head there' is a nozzle or nozzles through jwhich the oil is sprayed into the cylinder.. These may beplaced atV any convenient ,point in the upper end of theV cylinder and rthere are comparatively few ydifficulties indesigning a satisfactory injection device for this portion of the cyli inder. vThe problem ,of injecting-fuel into cylinder. This head maybe separatefrom theloiwer end of the "cylinder,r however, is

considerablyl complicatedby reason of the space occupied by the piston rod and the necessity of having a passage through the cyl- Y inder headin which this rod may move. It

is necessary that these spraying nozzles or nozzle should not discharge against the surface ofthe piston rod, and it is quitel difficult to inject the fuel into the annular space so, that it will intimately mix with the air necessary for'its combustion. f

Heretofore sprayershave been iitted in .cannons connecting the inner and outer walls of the lowerhead and spraying substantially 1n the direction of the movement of the piston, or by cannons connecting the walls of the cylinder jacket ,and liner substantially at right angles to the direction of motion of piston. f

In order to rallow fuel to'meet theair .re-

`quired for combustion, sometimes two -or more approximately vertical sprayers are fitted inthe cylinder head, or two or more approximately horizontal sprayers'are itted in the-cylinder wall more or less tangentially so as to 'avoid injecting fuel directly against theV pistonrod.y In the case of the first construction mentioned, the sprayer cannons increase the diiiiculties Vof cooling the head and Aresult Vin a'cofmplicated casting ill-adapted to resist the stresses, including heat stresses,

"tol which it is subjected lin service. Inthe case of the' second construction mentioned, they cannon necessarilyiforms a rigid connection between the liner or wall of the cylinder proper and the water jacket. Owing vto the differences involved in thicknesses,

structions are likely to develop destructive stresses in service.

the packing as a means for supporting the.V

'masses of metal and'temperatures, such conl spraying nozzles-andsupplying i'uel thereto. Infone form 'of the invention this box is drilled suitably sov asto form a pluralityofpassages preferably spaced equidistantly about the circumference of] the y box. j

Mounted on the upper end of the box,which will ordinarily lie approximately flush with the inner face of the cylinder head, are nozzles which extend into thecylindera slight distance. Each nozzleis in communication with one of the oil passages formed in the box and fuel supply pipes are connected to the passagesbeyond the end of' the water jacket where the box is exposed. The nozzles are arranged with their spraying orifices directed' inwardly andtowa'rd the cylinder" wall so that the oil is'k directed away from the piston rod and into the combustion space. With this arrangement it will be seen that no cannons need be used between the inner and outer walls of the cylinder head specially for the injection device'. The cylinder head may be cast integrally with thecylinder wall, or else may be for-med separately therefrom in the usual way, but in either case the head may be symmetricaland the cooling of the head is greatly simplified since almuch greater proportion of the head surface may be-exposed'to *theV cooling medium.l Ordinarily the box will be found to be; of'suiiicient size to permit the necessary drilling for the oil passages, but if this isvnot the casev when the cylinder head is formed the passage through it in which the piston rod moves will be madesuiiiciently large s'o that a suiciently large box may loe-employed.

In the accompanying drawings I have il# lustrated thel invention in that fonia-which isVV .now preferred, pand" in these drawings,;

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of the lower head ofa double actinginternal lcombustion engine with the new type of box in place Fis,

Figs. 3 and 4 are small scale, longitudinala sectional viewsofl double acting engines of` the priorart,r Fig. 3 showing thevalve can-v nons placed horizontally, and Fig. 4' the' cannons placed vertically.

Referringrnow to thesevdra-wings, the engine is seen, to consist of a cylinder 5 here shown, providedwith a lowercylinder head 6 whichis cast integral with the cylinder wall. This'head isformed with an extension-7 providing -a passage'through whichthe piston rod8Y moves. The piston rod has mounted upon it 'they .piston 9` which lieswithin the'cylinder.- The cylinderand-lower head' are encasedfin a waterjacket 10 which forms annular water spaces. 11wand 12 around the ,cylinder thei cylinder head:

the packing 16-of any well-known type. The' box terminatesh at its outer end in a-lateral iange- 17 which-lies beyond the'- end ofthe water-jacket ,and aglandi 18 Liitting tightly around the piston. rod'holds thelpa'ckingin place.- The gland18 also has a recess in which is placed-packing 19- vwhich is, in turn,

2- iswa transverse .sectional view on held in place by a second gland 20. The box at its inner end lies substantially flush with the inner face of the'cylinder head 6.

The portion 14 of the box is drilled to form oil passages 21 and spray nozzles 22 aremo'untedin the end of the box so as to extend a` slight' distance into the' cylinder. These nozzles are in communication with the passagesv 21 and in this particular instance there are shown four passages and four nozzles. At the point 23 where the box has a shoulder by reason of its having a portion of increased diameter'there is drilled a passage 24communcating with the passage 21. The outer end of this inclined passage 24 is closed-'bylafplug25. A longitudinal passage 26 is drilled' through the sleeve, its lower, outer end-*being closed by a plug 27. This passage 26 communicateswithV the inclined passage 24. An inclined'passage 28 is then drilledvthrough thelateralflange of the box to communicatewithlthe longitudinal passage -261 and-a fuel supply pipe 29 is connected to this passage 28 by a suitable coup-A The fuel supply pipes are supplied with oilwhich is injected at timed intervals and this oil is sprayed into thecyliuder through the nozzle. These nozzles, as here shown, dischargethis oil upwardly into the cylindei,;distributing itrevenly in thecombustion space;V j

In Figz the'old type of engine has` been illustrated to showA the manner in which the oil is injected. vPassage 32 is formed through a cannon which connects the cylinder wall and the water jacket. A number of these passages are ordinarily used and in making the cylinder it is necessary to providees'uch acannon for each passage. It will be seen that the castinglof the cylinder isconsiderably" complicated by the necessity of forming the; cannons between the cylinder walls' and the acket and this distribution of the metal produces detrimental eiiiects, not

only by reason of itsinterference with thecirculation of the cooling medium,lbut also by reason of unequal expansion of the difrentpjarts in casting, as well as when the engine is in operation.

In Fig. 4 there is'shown an engine of the prior art. In this view the lower cylinder head is shown a's beingcast integral withthe cylinder jacket and oil is introduced into the cylinder through passages 33. These passagesextend substantially in the direction of the cylinder axis and it will be seen that in order to provide for these oilpassages the cylinder `cover is so formed that it cannot be thoroughly cooled- .throughout all Band '4 the cylinder covers cannot be madey mounting ofthe spray nozzles Within 'it 'while maintaining the required strength.

Consequently, engines offthis type cannot be made of as small bore as is possible when the packing box is used for the oil passages. Also on both the engines illustrated in Figs.

wholly symmetrical either when cast as part of the cylinderv and jacket, or When cast separately therefrom.r ,This lack ofsymmetry results indifliculties in operation due to cracking. "With the engine shown in Fig. l these difficulties are eliminated.

It Will'be `observed',.furthermore, that with the engine constructed in accordance with my invention not only is the making of the various parts of the engineconsiderably simplilied and its life lengthened, but the assembly of the injection apparatus is much simpler and it may be easily dismantled should occasion arise.

I claim:

1. In an internal combustion engine the` combination of ak cylinder, a piston in the cylinder, a head inthe cylinder having a passage therethough, a piston rod connected to the piston and movable in the passage,

' a box in the passage fitting about said piston rod the inner end of this box terminating,

substantially flush with the inner Wall of the cylinder head, and a plurality of oil supply passages in said box.

2. In an internal combustion engine the combination of a cylinder, a piston in the cylinder, a head in the cylinder having a passage therethrough, a piston rod connected to the piston and movable in the passage, a box in the passage containing packing fitting said piston rod the inner end of this box terminating substantially flush with the inner Wall of the cylinder head, and a plurality of spaced oil passages through said 3. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a piston inthe cylinder, a head in the cylinder having a passage therethrough, a piston rod connected to the piston and movablefin the passage, a box in the passage fitting said piston rod, a plurality ol'oil passages in said Vbox, and nozzles mounted in the box in communication with said passages and having orifices for discharging oil into the cylinder. n

ll.y In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a piston in the cylinder, a head in the cylinder having a passage therethrough, a piston rod connected to thepiston and movable in the passage, a box in the passage fittingsaid piston rod the inner end of this box terminating substantially liush with the inner Wall of the cylinder head, a plurality of oil passages through the box, `and means mounted in the box and connected with'each oil passage for distributing oil uniformly in the combustion space. l

5. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a piston Yin the cylinder, a head in the cylinder having av passage therethrough, a piston rod connected to the piston and movable in the passage, a boxY in the passage itting said piston rod, the innerjend ofthis box terminating'Y substantially flush with the inner Wall ofthe cylinder head, a plurality of nozzlesmounted in said box and having discharge orifes directed away from said piston rod,y andan oil passage inthe box for supplying oil to each nozzle.

6. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a piston in the cylinder, a head in the cylinder having a passage therethrough, a piston rod connected tothe piston and movable in theA passage, a box in the passage fittingV the piston rod, a plurality of nozzles mounted in the box and extending into the cylinder in the space between the cylinder head and the piston, these nozzles having discharge oriicesdirected away from the piston rod, and an oil passage in the box communicating witheach nozzle.

7. In an internal combustion engine, the

vcombination of a cylinder, a head in the Vlatter portion of the box fitting the piston rod, a gland for holding the packing in place, a plurality of nozzles mounted in one end of the box and having radially directed discharge orifices, and oil passages in the box communicating'with the nozzles.

8. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder havingV an integrally formed head provided with a passage communicating -with the cylinder, a continuous water jacket enclosing the cylinder and head, a piston in thecylinder mounted on a rod extending through the passage, a box in the passage fitting the piston rod the inner end of this box terminating substantially flush With the inner wall of the cylinder head, a plurality of nozzles having orifices discharging outwardly into said cylinder, and an oil supply passagefor each nozzle through the box.

9.l In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a head in the cylinder having a passage therethrough, a pist-on inthe cylinder, a piston rod on'which the piston is mounted, extending through the passage, a box in the passage itting the piston rod, one end of this box lying flush with lthe inner face of the head, a plurality of nozzles mounted in the flush end of the box and extending into the cylinder, these nozzles having outwardly directed discharge orifices, a plurality of inlet openings, one for each nozzle, located in the other end of the box, and an' oil passage in the box extending between each inlet opening and the nozzle associated therewith.

10. A box for encasing the packing for the piston rod of a double acting internal combustion engine, containing a plurality of oil passages therethrough, and a nozzle for each passage having an orifice discharging 20 into the cylinder.

11. A box for encasing the packing for the piston rod of a double acting internal combustion engine, `containing a plurality of oil passages, each passage having a discharge orice directed away from the piston rod, the box having an enlarged rim at the end opposite to that in which the discharge orifices are located, this rim having inlets through which the oil is introduced into the passages.

l2. A box for encasing the packing for the piston rod of a double acting internal combustion engine containing a plurality of oil passages and a plurality of nozzles mounted in the box, each nozzle communieating with one of said passages and the nozzles being adapted to lie beyond the end of the box within the cylinder.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signa* ture.

LAWRENGE Y. SPEAR. 

